Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for raising this issue. Canadians deserve a durable financial sector that is globally competitive and also provides them with the tools that they need to navigate in this world.

As the financial sector becomes more digitized, we would all agree that standards are necessary, and more appropriately, the standards must be modernized to ensure that Canada continues to have a stable and secure financial sector, but, at the same time, that Canadians have confidence that the financial sector operates with the highest regard for both privacy and security.

I have been informed that the Department of Finance is continuing to work on developing the next steps and moving forward with open banking.

Senator C. Deacon: Thank you, Senator Gold. Maybe confidence can be gained from the fact that the Globe and Mail editorial board recently endorsed the implementation of open banking, citing that pro-consumer reforms are the key to lowering prices and fees for Canadians. Thanks to the thorough and robust consultations that Finance Canada did, all that remains is political will.

Hopefully, we can find that an announcement is forthcoming. I look forward to consumer rights being enhanced and universal access to this internationally acclaimed regulatory change will be made. Thank you.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question, senator.

As the government has stated, and as I have announced in this chamber, the loss to which you refer regarding the vaccines was a product of the precautions that the government took to ensure not only a safe supply of vaccines, but also the hope of developing a capacity in Canada to manufacture certain kinds of vaccines — it’s a capacity that, unfortunately, was lost in the past when previous governments made decisions that, at the time, seemed to be in the best interests of Canadians, but it left us without that capacity.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): I’m not sure that there is anybody in this chamber who has any greater respect for former Justice Louise Arbour than me. We were colleagues and friends, and our relationship goes back half a lifetime.

However, as I have said in this chamber on many occasions in response to this question, the design that was chosen — notwithstanding the recommendation of the jury — was the one that the veterans and their families preferred and felt better honoured their role and, indeed, their sacrifice.

It is, I think, appropriate to underline that fact as we celebrate Veterans’ Week, and as we anticipate Remembrance Day. Let’s remember what this is supposed to honour. It is supposed to honour those men and women — those Canadians — who served and sacrificed. Their views counted in this decision, as they properly should have.